627 



higher animals, invariably contains, during the latter periods of 

 intra-uterine life, albuminous or nutritious matter, which undergoes 

 digestion in the small intestines. He finds that the nature of this 

 substance varies very much in different animals. In the earlier 

 periods of foetal life, the stomach contains very little, if any, nutri- 

 tious matter. He is disposed to consider the salivary glands as the 

 source of the albuminous matter found in the stomach at later 

 periods. 



" Extracts of Letters from Captain Williams, first Assistant to the 

 Commissioner of Arracan, and from Ensign Haukeu and Mr. Howe, 

 Marine Assistant Commissioner, giving details of a curious pheno- 

 menon seen at sea olF Ryook Phyoo." Communicated by Viscount 

 Mahon, F.R.S., Pres. S.A. 



The appearance in question, seen between five and six o'clock in 

 the evening of the 2nd of December 1845, was that of a large flame 

 far out at sea, flickering several times for fifteen and twenty minutes, 

 and suddenly ceasing. It was conjectured to have been either a 

 large ship on fire, or a volcanic eruption ; but no positive data exist 

 for determining the question. 



" On the Fossil Remains of the soft parts of Foraminifera dis- 

 covered in the Chalk and Flint of the South-east of England." By 

 Gideon Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. 



By subjecting small portions of calcareous rock to the action of 

 diluted hydrochloric acid, the calcareous earth and the shells it had 

 enveloped were removed ; the residue consisting of particles of 

 quartz and of green sihcate of iron ; and also numerous remains of 

 the soft parts of animalcules, chiefly Xanthidia and Rotaliae. The 

 organization of the latter appears, from the observations of Ehren- 

 berg, to be very simple, and to have no relation with the Cephalo- 

 poda, as was formerly imagined. The liody is enclosed within the 

 shell, which is polythalamous, and it occupies not only the outer cham- 

 ber, but also all the ceils contemporaneously, and the shell is pierced 

 all over with minute pores, through v»^hich tentacula protrude ; and 

 there are also several soft transparent feelers, ov pseudopodia^ which 

 are instruments of locomotion. When the shell is removed by acid, 

 the soft body is exposed, and is seen to extend to the innermost 

 chamber ; and there is a connecting tube occupying the place of 

 the siphuncle of the nautilus, but v/hich is the intestinal canal ; for 

 the cells are the receptacles of the digestive sacs or stomachs, in 

 which monads, naviculse, and other minute infusoria, Vr hich the ani- 

 mal had swallowed, may sometimes be observed. In the fossil re- 

 mains, the appearance of the parts which the author supposes to be 

 the digestive organs, is that of a series of bladders or sacs, composed 

 of a tough flexible integument, and connected by a tube. These 

 organs are more or less filled with a dark substance ; those which 

 are distended are always well-defined, while the empty ones are col- 

 lapsed and disposed in folds, just as membranous pouches would 

 appear under similar conditions. The sacs regularly diminish in 



